Carlton Cuse Says ‘LOST’ Could Return

Ten years after the series premiere of ABC’s LOST, plenty of questions (and some mixed-feelings) remain. While the show helped to redefine event network TV storytelling, a model that cable channels have mastered, and usher-in a new golden age of ambitious character-focused television series, many die-hard fans of the show remain underwhelmed by how it all ended (read our LOST series finale review). After all, even though many viewers were watching to see what might happen to their favorite Flight 316 survivors, showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse also injected an unprecedented amount of mythology – much of which was never officially answered.

We did our best to address some of the biggest lingering topics in our LOST Finale Explained: Answering the Unanswered Questions feature but, without a doubt, the TV series introduced more mysteries than it was able to completely address in its six season run. For that reason, some viewers (as well as people involved with the show) have often speculated that Disney would eventually revive the brand – to tell further stories of the mysterious island (and make even more money on the concept).

Two year after the series finale, Lindelof said he believed that LOST would return in some form but that he had no plans to contribute – stating that his team told the story they wanted to tell and, unlike Jack, no longer felt compelled to “go back.” Cuse has also expressed similar sentiments in the past but revisited the topic in a new interview with Digital Spy – stating that he believes it’s “inevitable” that LOST will return:

Disney owns the franchise, it made them a lot of money, it’s hard to imagine it will just sit there idly forever. Damon (Lindelof) and I told our story in that world and I assume someone will come along, hopefully having been inspired by our story, or our version of the story, and want to tell their own story.

It’s like the Narnia chronicles. There are [seven] books, they were all written by CS Lewis, but they all visit Narnia at different times and different configurations and different ways. Someone is going to come up with a way to tell another Lost story. I think it’s inevitable. I don’t know what it is or how it would work, but I can’t imagine something else won’t be done with the franchise.

Of course, neither Lindelof or Cuse could be very upset if someone else came along and revisited, rebooted, or spun-off their original program – given that, since their time as showrunners on LOST, both have dabbled in retooling existing franchises. Lindelof has contributed to scripts for the modern Star Trek films as well as the Alien franchise tie-in Prometheus and Cuse is the writer/producer behind the Psycho prequel series Bates Motel.

Still, even though some were disappointed by the outcome and ultimate revelations of the show, LOST is a sandbox that would be fun to see back on the small (or even big) screen. That said, the original show covered a lot of time (especially between 1970 and present day) in its six seasons, so it would be hard to know where a new storyline could be set – at least without retreading prior ground. Much of the island’s activity was known and relatively well understood in those decades – thanks to Dharma Initiative experiments. As a result, it’s unclear whether or not a new filmmaking team could truly revisit the LOST story, using Cuse’s Narnia example, at “different times and different configurations and different ways.”

The island has been around for centuries but it’s unlikely that viewers would be all that interested in a version of the story set prior to the 1970s and a near-future return would somewhat undermine the close-ended (albeit controversial) closing of Cuse and Lindelof’s 121 episodes – not to mention the many fan-favorite characters that sacrificed their lives to protect the island. Nevertheless, given the time-bending properties of LOST, a new TV series might offer some fun crossover potential – since it could even provide opportunity for a few familiar faces to return.

For skeptics, this probably sounds like a terrible idea but we’ve been proven wrong before. Without a doubt, there are plenty of hollow cash grab spin-offs but as Cuse indicates, “someone is going to come up with a way to tell another LOST story” and it’s entirely possible that person could find a genuinely clever and engaging way back to this world.

After all, LOST producer J.J. Abrams did it with Star Trek and Cuse managed to turn one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films into one of A&E’s best shows – so it’s possible that a talented and clever fan of the series would be able to come up with an intriguing reason for a return trip to the island.